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When of the best parts about summer is ice cream- cold, frozen cream with sugar… yum. When I was a kid, my father would take me to Baskin Robbins. “Don’t tell your Mom we had ice cream before dinner, she’ll get mad,” he would say. We would always order the same thing- two scoops of chocolate fudge ice cream on a sugar cone; extra napkins to wipe away the evidence, please. In the two miles that it took to get home, we would finish our cones. My father would look in the rear-view mirror to make sure he didn’t have any signs of chocolate on his face; then he would make sure I was clean as well. My mom never suspected, but I imagine she was curious when my dad and I only had a few bites of dinner.
On the last day of her visit, my sister (who lives in Boston) suggested that we go to Lidia’s for brunch. Wait, Lidia’s in the Strip has brunch? They do indeed.
Travel to Oakmont however, and you can find some great pastries, cakes and other goodies to munch on. The cakes produced at this bakery are consistently good.
I had never heard of a burnt almond torte before I moved back to Pittsburgh. The first time I saw one of these cakes was at a party one evening. I noticed the square cake with shaved almonds on it and asked, “What’s that?”
“That’s a Burnt Almond Torte from Prantl’s, you’ve never had one?”
Why was it called a burnt almond torte? The almonds were barely toasted, but they were coated with a thick layer of sugar.
It wasn’t easy getting a reservation at Salt of the Earth, so when I finally secured a spot for last Thursday evening, I was excited. We arrived at 8pm sharp, and were greeted by a very friendly hostess. As she was checking on our table, I looked around, and was extremely impressed with the layout of the restaurant.
I shared slices of my hot Pear Pie with Ryan and Brianna, and they seemed to agree that it was great! I loved it (if I do say so myself). The next day, I took the remaining slices in to work to share with Mari and Chef Chuck. Success!
